


you first took my hand (on a cold christmas eve)

by michaelsc0fields



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence - post Destiny, F/M, Lisa is a little kid, a cute teddy bear, christmas in july, good cheer, hand holding!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 12:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7639630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michaelsc0fields/pseuds/michaelsc0fields
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard stopped in his tracks, staring past Sara into the distance. </p><p>“Leonard?” Sara prompted, before following his line of sight. A shop window display had a large teddy bear with a green and red festive bow tied around its neck, a big smile stitched onto its furry face. </p><p>But Sara had a feeling that the teddy bear wasn’t what Leonard was looking at; instead she guessed it was the little girl with her nose pressed up against the window.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you first took my hand (on a cold christmas eve)

**Author's Note:**

> merry july everyone! talk about under the wire - i'm posting this with two and a half hours of july left. 
> 
> until sara and lisa meet, it seems i'm just going to write them together because I NEED IT. also Captain Canary fluffiness.

Central City, December 24th 1993

The mission was a pretty quick one, simple intel gathering so they could plan their next attack on the Legion. Sara and Leonard had retrieved what they needed and sent it to Rip with little difficulty, trying not to talk or touch too much. Since the time stream had spat Leonard back out, there had been a tense air of awkwardness between them – neither mentioned the kiss or his confession of wanting a future together and so it lurked between them as they stubbornly avoided it and each other.

Sara shivered as it began to snow and shoved her hands tighter into the pockets of her coat, envious of Leonard’s massive parka. He wouldn’t offer it and she wouldn’t accept even if he did; that would be crossing the weird unspoken line drawn between them. But still, she thought as she glanced to the side where Leonard was keeping stride with her, it looked so warm and fluffy and-

Leonard stopped in his tracks, staring past Sara into the distance. 

“Leonard?” Sara prompted, before following his line of sight. A shop window display had a large teddy bear with a green and red festive bow tied around its neck, a big smile stitched onto its furry face. It was sat by a Christmas tree, a cardboard speech bubble pronouncing ‘Hi, my name is Ted and I love big hugs!’ propped up in the branches so it looked like it was coming from the bear’s mouth.

But Sara had a feeling that the teddy bear wasn’t what Leonard was looking at; instead she guessed it was the little girl with her nose pressed up against the window. She was small, with tiny hands that were bright red from the cold even as she held them up to the glass in awe. Her coat was threadbare with no hood, a barely-there scarf doing nothing to keep the wind from rushing to her bare skin. Long dark hair curled down her back, the only feature Sara could recognise that was shared with the woman she knew the girl would grow up to be.

“Lisa…” She breathed softly and Leonard’s face hardened at the sight of his sister in such a poor condition. The little girl herself barely seemed to notice the icy weather she was not equipped for, her face lit up in wonder under the glow of the display’s lights. Sara knew that Leonard was in prison – his first stint in real prison, not juvie – over the Christmas of ’93, but she didn’t realise how much Lisa would have suffered without her big brother there.

A large man with a paper bag clutched in his hand stumbled round the corner.

“There you are!” He growled, advancing on Lisa and grabbing her tiny arm in a way that Sara could tell was far too tight. “Come on, you little brat. Time to go home.” He punctuated his sentence with a long swig from the bottle within the bag, dragging Lisa around the corner even as she cried out and reach for the bear.

Sara looked back at Leonard to see his face set in a murderous frown, fists balled tightly by his side, clearly itching for his cold gun. But she knew that being in the time stream meant he knew there was some things he simply couldn’t change or it would destroy the future. That didn’t mean a few things couldn’t be tweaked here and there though…  
Lisa and her father disappeared around the corner and Sara made a snap decision.

“Come on.” She set off towards the shop, not waiting to see if Leonard was following. She pushed through the door, revelling slightly in the warmth it brought her.

The owner looked up from behind the counter and waved. “Merry Christmas! What can I help you with? Some last minute Christmas Eve shopping?”

Sara heard Leonard come in behind her and offered the owner her warmest and most charming smile. “I would love to buy that bear in the window. Our little girl would just adore it.” She turned to see Leonard watching her with a wary expression. “Wouldn’t she, darling?”

-

They waited around the corner from the Snart household until Lewis came staggering out, shrugging on his coat and heading down to the bar Sara had seen a couple of blocks over. Leonard tensed up again at the sight of him, but Sara had put a gentle hand on his arm and he had relaxed slightly.

Now they were stood on the porch, ringing the doorbell as a few flickering Christmas lights buzzed pathetically around them. Clearly Lewis Snart invested more in alcohol than he did decorations.

The door opened slowly and a pair of big brown eyes peeked round. Lisa was in a thin nightgown, not at all appropriate for the icy Christmas Eve weather. The short sleeves showed off a variety of bruises scattered across her arms. She stared up at them worriedly, worrying a stray thread coming loose from the hem. 

“Did my daddy send you?” She asked in a small voice.

“No.” Leonard said, forcefully and Lisa started.

Sara immediately crouched down. “Actually, we’re friends of your brother, Leonard.”

Lisa brightened up immediately, holding the door wider. “Lenny?” She asked hopefully.

Sara nodded, glancing at the lights around her. “I like your decorations.”

Lisa smiled shyly. “I did them all myself.” She said, pride creeping into her voice even as she ducked her head. “I stood on a stool and everything!”

“Good job!” Sara grinned at her. “Now my friend has something for you, don’t you Len- uh…” Sara trailed off hoping neither of the Snarts noticed her slip up. Lisa’s gaze moved from Sara to Leonard, watching him for several long moments.

Sara looked back to see what the delay was. Leonard was staring down at his sister with a look of utter heartbreak. Sara knew that all he saw in this moment was the bruises and the dirty face and the tangled hair, not the little girl beneath them all who was looking up at him nervously.

Sara stood back up and prised the bear from Leonard’s coat pocket; his gaze flicked briefly to her to let her know it was okay before settling back on Lisa. Sara crouched down again and held out the bear.

“This is for you, from Lenny. He says he really sorry he couldn’t be here to see you on Christmas Day, but he loves you so much and he’s going to see you really soon, okay?” Sara said softly.

“And…” Leonard frowned and crouched next to Sara. He looked at Lisa seriously. “He says be brave. Be a brave, strong girl just like he knows you can be. And one day, he’ll make sure things are better. Because you deserve better.”

Lisa’s bottom lip wobbled. Then she flung her arms out and caught each of them around the neck, hugging them tightly. Sara felt an unexpected surge of affection as she wrapped her arm around the tiny slip of a girl; Leonard did the same and their fingers brushed half way around. 

Leonard’s hands were shaking. Sara linked their fingers together and it stopped. She squeezed his cold fingers between hers, then let go and pulled away from Lisa. The little girl gratefully took the teddy from Sara, clutching it to her chest with that same wondrous expression from when she was looking in the shop window. Sara looked across at Leonard and saw he was slightly choked up at the sight of his sister so happy with such a simple gift; as they stood she threaded their fingers together again. 

Leonard looked down at their joined hands, then to her face with an expression of such soft contentment that Sara thought her heart might beat out of her body.

An excited squeal caught their attention as Lisa hopped up and down, one hand pointing above their heads and the other squeezing her new teddy to her chest.

“You’re under the mistley-toe, you have to kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiss!” She proclaimed, before proceeding to make over the top smooching noises.

They both looked up; hanging above them was a limp cluster of what looked like basil. Clearly, Lisa had had to get creative when decorating.

Sara laughed. On the one hand, here was an opportunity to erase the weird tension between them by finally acting on it; on the other, she didn’t really want to scar Lisa for life by jumping her brother’s bones in front of her. So, she simply stepped up onto her tiptoes and pecked Leonard on the cheek. He turned to her, surprised, but with a warmth in his eyes that stirred her stomach even more than his usual lustful gaze that he often directed at her when she got into his personal space.

Shaking it off, Sara let go of Leonard’s hand to scoop Lisa up, mindful of her bruises. Lisa shrieked with happiness as she was tossed into the air and caught again.

“Your turn!” Sara announced and began smothering Lisa’s face with loud smacking kisses. The little girl giggled and flailed in Sara’s arms until she let up, giving her one last kiss on the forehead before setting her and her teddy safely back on the ground. “Merry Christmas, Lisa.”

-

Back on the Waverider, Sara shrugged off Rip’s demands to know where they had been, heading into the maze of the ship with Leonard right beside her. Sara’s room came up first and they both stopped outside of it.

“Well, this is me.” She pretended to read an imaginary sign on the door. “’Santa’s Little Helper’. Yep, definitely my room.”

“Sara.” Leonard’s tone was serious. “Thank you.”

Sara considered him for a moment, then rose onto her tiptoes, eliminating the height difference and tilting her face up to Leonard’s. His eyes met hers and her heart jumped slightly at the lust in them, behind the confused glaze. “I can think of a better way you could thank me.”

“There’s no mistletoe.” He said gruffly, his voice lowered as her nose grazed his.

“Fuck the mistletoe.” Sara replied, bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck.

“There’s no basil.” He muttered as his hands settled on her hips, pulling her flush against him.

“Shut up, Leonard.” Sara sighed and surged up to kiss him.


End file.
